DailyDirt: Thank You For Not Smoking

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

People have been smoking tobacco for centuries (if not longer), but the health problems associated with tobacco have only been shifting from correlation to causation over the last decade or so. As usual, technology might be able to help... by improving how tobacco is used -- with various kinds of smokeless delivery mechanisms or with better treatments for addiction/cancer/etc. So the trend of a shrinking population of smokers might slow down or reverse course if there's a breakthrough in tobacco tech someday. But don't hold your breath.

Re: So...

Electronic cigarettes

We could really cut down on those numbers if the FDA would quit fighting against Electronic cigarettes. The FDA took the makers to court and lost, because they wanted to claim they were drug delivery devices. Which is quite silly because if that were the case than so are regular cigarettes.

The industry wants regulation but they refuse to so, instead they are fighting against it because by having people quit smoking it cuts into the profits of big pharma and a few other large entities profits.

Re: Electronic cigarettes

This drives me crazy. There is a cure for deaths due to cigarettes, and idiots in the government make them illegal to import (at least, in Canada). It is not the nicotine that is harmful, but the smoke.

I hope they hold those government officials accountable for the preventable death, just like they held cigarette manufacturers accountable.

Re:

Re: Tank you for not smoking

"Tank you for not smoking" is a play on words referring to tank-style liquid containers of some popular types of e-cigarettes. Nobody expects to be "thanked". By definition (in this context), if you're "tanking", you're not smoking. Rather, you're "vaping"; that is, using a personal vaporizor (PV - the so-called "electronic cigarette") as a delivery device for nicotine in a vegetable glycerine (VG) and/or propylene glycol (PG) suspension.

I switched to e-cigarettes in October 2011, after open-heart surgery, and haven't looked back. Without using gum or patches, I was immediately able to drop tobacco with no pain, other than a learning curve (there are a lot of excellent and crappy e-cigarettes). Both my cardiologist and my MD approve of the switch, and both consider me an ex-smoker.

I no longer experience limited lung capacity, shortness of breath, or smelly hair and clothing (other than my own 'eau de afrab'), nor am I expecting cancer to be my eventual cause of death. I appear to have recovered my general health and long-gone sense of taste. I'm grateful for e-cigarettes. I don't know if I could have held it together to quit cold otherwise.

E-cig's

I started using e-cigs exactly 10 months and 4 days ago(used to smoke heavily 40 or more a day) and I have never regretted it(no withdrawals although my gums bled for a few days when I stopped smoking which I believe is normal). Yes I order all my stuff from China and it costs less than £100 a year. It has become a hobby with trying all the different flavours and making my own electronic cigarettes from wood with 18650 batteries. So i know a little more than most about how they work.

All you are inhaling is vaporised water and nicotine and a little flavouring. The nicotine is pure and causes the same amount of damage as drinking a cup of coffee. In fact it has been found that nicotine helps the brain repair itself so is good for old-timers diseases and other brain malfunctions.

It is way way healthier than smoking and I personally am healthier now than I have ever been in my life, my blood pressure is 100% normal. my Lung capacity has increased tremendously, and the biggest benefit I feel is that I smell of cherries and apples and not tobacco and ash.

Re: E-cig's

Re: E-cig's

"All you are inhaling is vaporised water and nicotine and a little flavouring. The nicotine is pure and causes the same amount of damage as drinking a cup of coffee. In fact it has been found that nicotine helps the brain repair itself so is good for old-timers diseases and other brain malfunctions."

Let me guess, the batteries generate heat which is used to vaporize the water/nicotine/flavor mix as you hold a hollow tube in your mouth that resembles a cigarette?

Correct me please if I'm wrong, but I think that is very similar to a huka or bong :-)

Smokeless delivery systems

I note that nicotine used to be used widely in organic farming as a pest-killer. It worked very well.

It is now no longer used in organic farming because it is too toxic. Changing delivery systems won't really help with the nicotine. It might help with the other carcinogens that smoking produces, but not with the most toxic substance in cigarettes.

I smoked for years. Loved it. I quit in 1976. Hardest thing I've ever done. Haven't had a craving for months. I suspect I should stay stopped.

e-cigs should be fun

I think e-cigs should be fun, colorful, and taste like jolly ranchers. I don't know if any studies have been done, but maybe without inhaling the smoke, just the nicotine won't be as unhealthy. Even if it isn't all that great for you, think of all the other things we do for fun that aren't really all that good for us. Eat sweets, drink too much alcohol, skip sleep.

Considering more people die or are injured from alcohol (vehicle crashes, drunken brawls and shootings, cirrhosis of the liver) than from tobacco, not to mention pregnancies caused by alcohol, why aren't we doing something similar with booze?

Re:

"pregnancies caused by alcohol"? Well, thank goodness I don't drink, 'cause I don't want to end up pregnant. All this time the fearmongers have been lying to us, telling us that pregnancy is caused by sex. It's a conspiracy, I tell ya!

There has been a technological breakthrough- no 'maybe' or 'someday' about it! Vaping is the future of smoking. The Tobacco and pharmaceutical industries are rightly afraid that it will devastate their business's. There's a really interesting story about the legal battle re: FDA vs (some ecig company- can't remember), that you should check out... Did you know the FDA is headed by a former Big tobacco exec? beautiful irony that the industries own pet laws have safeguarded the use of PV's.

After many torturous failed attempts trying expensive "approved" treatments, I was finally able to quit smoking in April of last year, using a high end 'mod' vaporizer- with a big battery and XL fluid tank. This setup is far more convenient then conventional smoking. I smoked 2 1/2 packs a day at the time, and had smoked for 16 years. Quiting still sucked, and I was miserable for a while (likely made worse cause I insisted on immediately reducing my nicotine intake), but I was able to follow it through. Having stuck to a slow and steady nicotine reduction plan, I now take in less then one cigs worth of nicotine a day, and often just forget about wanting to vape. I'm sure I could stop completely without much if any suffering, but I enjoy it, and it seams harmless enough at this point. My health has greatly improved, and I have no doubt I've added years to my life. If you buy quality equipment, buy bulk and mix your own fluids, vaping is also very cheap compared to smoking. Mixing should be done with due caution though, as nicotine is not only extremely addictive, but also it's potentially fatally poisonous when concentrated.

\disclaimer
Not medical advice, not a doc/lawyer, not an approved smoking cessation method, your experience my vary, improper use could result in death... /disclaimer